Mythology Blog Fall 2019

I had already been introduced to this mindset by one of my science textbooks. Linus Pauling is known as the father of Molecular biology, and this is his quote "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." I read this last semester and haven't forgotten it yet. This video put that quote into more context though. It was a great video and reinforced that same idea I learned from Dr. Pauling, and it's one that I am taking very seriously. It was also good to learn that procrastinating isn't always a bad thing lol! I hope to achieve as much as Dr. Pauling, or "the originals" that Adam Grant talks about. If I don't then that's fine, but I will definitely try by thinking outside of the box or I'll find some other ways to be creative. Who knows, maybe one day I'll win a Nobel Prize too. Link to video:  http://growthmindsetmemes.blogspot.com/2017/08/original-thinkers-by-adam-grant.html  A photo of Dr. Linus Pauling from:  h...

Cool mythology map I found at  https://metal-gaia.com/2013/06/07/a-map-of-world-mythology/ I watched all three videos and I have so many questions. I never knew that myths were studied this intensely. There is so much to them that I do not even know where to begin. I like the idea of the monomyth, I think it's a great way to turn a myth into more than just a story. The theory that everyone is a hero makes these stories far more relate-able. I never thought that I would relate to Odysseus fighting a cyclops, but with this theory maybe I have already fought mine or will fight mine idk. Thinking about myth's this way can definitely inspire some people with the "if they can do it, then so can I" mentality. Now after watching these videos I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the universal traits they talked about and will definitely consider them when I am working on my storybook project. Videos found at:  http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/12/crash-cours...

I changed my display name on Canvas from Jose Juan Macias to just Jose Macias and I added a profile picture. For my picture I chose one of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. I chose this one because it is one of the few pictures I have saved on my laptop and also because I think he looks like a badass lol.

This idea of a single story is something that I have already thought about before, and Chimamanda explains it perfectly. In her talk, she explains to us how susceptible we are from an early age. Especially when the stories we hear are the same over and over again. The danger comes from when those stories are used to spread misinformation about a certain subject. Take the Holocaust, for example, Adolf Hitler fabricated a single story to take the lives of millions of innocent people. Everywhere he went he told the people of Germany, and later the rest of Europe, that the Jews were the cause of their countries plagues, corruption, and economic crisis. He repeated that single story so much that eventually, they believed him. To avoid this we must be able to think critically and come to our own conclusions. In an age where we have access to all the information ever conceived by man, we cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by the single stories of the wicked that try to divide us. For Dr. ...

Oil lamp like the one I image the genie is in. Photo from:  https://www.importsfrommarrakesh.com/product/aladdin-oil-lamp/ This story was short and sweet. It was very different from the story I knew, but that was expected. This story was very different than the other ones I read in Arabian Nights. Which, I suppose is a good thing since I said the other stories were repetitive. I though it was interesting how it took place in China rather than India. Other than that nothing else really stood out to me. Today's Reading: " The Arabian Nights' Entertainment " by Andrew Lang

Image of a magic book from: Link Today's reading was really good, I really like the idea of stories within stories. However, I don't think I will have the skill to pull something like that off in my project. The stories in this story were interesting as well. They all seem to involve life or death but I think it's interesting when the stories involve magic and the ways each country or civilization thinks magic operates. I wonder what other kinds of magic I'll read about or if the Aztec believed in magic. Today's Reading: " The Arabian Nights' Entertainment " by Andrew Lang